Union County
Home Sales in Union County
page 10
Postseason 20 to Treasure page 20
Serving Indian Trail, Marvin, Stallings, Waxhaw, Weddington and Wesley Chapel
Locally Owned & Operated www.unioncountyweekly.com
Volume 10, Number 3 • Jan. 15 to 21, 2015
Connecting the dots between towns and the county by Ryan Pitkin editor@unioncountyweekly.com
Courtney Schultz/UCW photos
Area Girl Scouts kick-off cookie sales with new flavors, technology by Courtney Schultz courtney@unioncountyweekly.com
Area Girl Scouts gathered on Saturday, Jan. 10, to kick off cookie sales at the Union County Cookie Rally in the Old Armory Community Center in Monroe. The Girls Scouts Hornet’s Nest (GSHN), a local council that serves eight North Carolina and South Carolina counties, including Union, hosted the rally to suggest sales tactics to improve cookie sales, introduce two new cookie flavors and launch a new digital component to the girls’ efforts. Girl Scouts visited various stations throughout the rally to learn new skills and ideas, such as creating goal-setting bracelets, making signs, sending letters to troops, a door-to-door sales booth to practice their “elevator speech” and getting their
nails painted in colors corresponding to each cookie. The Girl Scout cookie program is considered a legacy and is important to the organization because it serves as the fundraising component for the troops, said Colleen Young, vice president of development and communications at GSHN. Young wants the community to know the cookie program is more than just a fundraising venture, but an opportunity for participants to start “learning skills, such as goal-setting, people skills and communication,” she said. The cookie program aims to teach Girl Scouts five skills “essential to leadership to success and to life,” according to the organization’s website: goal setting, decision making, money management, people skills and business ethics. A majority of (see Girl Scouts on page 5)
On Monday, Jan. 5, the Union County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a plan to assign commissioners as liaisons to each municipality in the county, in hopes of improving communication with the towns. Board Chair Richard Helms presented the idea to the council, stating that discussions with constituents and elected town officials over the past year have brought concerns about the lack of communication within the county to his attention. Helms suggested that each commissioner communicate with a representative of his assigned towns at least four times a year to discuss how town activities may affect the county and vice versa. “One of the things that I have heard clearly from the elected officials in the municipalities is that we all – and this is a two-way thing – can do a better job of communicating,” Helms said. “This will be a great opportunity for (the towns) to have someone directed toward them that they can call.” At the meeting, commissioner Jerry Simpson expressed doubt that a quarterly meeting or phone call with each of his assigned municipalities would be necessary. Simpson said that he has already reached out to each of the municipalities during his previous term, and that his door would still be open. “Town councils’ interests are specific, as ours are,” Simpson said. “Sometimes we’re working in concert and sometimes we are against each other. (see Liaison for the rest of the story and a list of your town’s representatives on page 4)
INDEX: News Briefs, Crime Blotter, 6; Scores, 8; Home Sales, 10; Education, 12; Honor Rolls, 14; Rev. Tony, 16; Calendar, 18; Sports, 20; Classifieds, 23